• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

YouTube is giving creators an opportunity to make more money when posting videos that deal with content that advertisers consider to be controversial, highlighting the social media-company’s continued attempts to help creators monetize on the platform. 

Based on an update recently made to the “Advertiser Friendly Content Guidelines,” YouTube will try to give creators more ad revenue monetization opportunities for videos depicting abortion, self-harm, suicide, and domestic and sexual abuse specifically “when the content is dramatized or discussed.”

In a company-made video, a YouTube spokesperson explains that “in the past, the degree of graphic or descriptive detail was not considered a significant factor in determining advertiser friendliness, even for some dramatized material.” Videos that fell into this category often received “Limited” ad revenue for creators. 

Now, due to frustrations that creators have shared with the company, these types of dramatized videos will be eligible for more advertising monetization.

With the update, YouTube wants to invite creators to tell sensitive stories regarding complex subject matter with the option to fully monetize their work while also respecting advertiser choice and industry sentiment.

“We took a closer look and found our guidelines in this area had become too restrictive and ended up demonetizing uploads like dramatized content,” the spokesperson adds.

Content dramatizing, depicting or discussing child abuse and eating disorders are excluded from the guidelines update.

This marks the latest change that YouTube, which is owned by Google, has made to help creators and prioritize the growth of their on-platform presence through re-evaluating the strictness of certain relevant content guidelines. 

In October, for example, the company offered previously banned creators the option to request a new channel and rebuild their presence on the platform.

Once accepted, creators can also apply to rejoin the YouTube Partner Program, which boasts over 3 million channels and $100 billion in creator payouts. 

Prior to that, YouTube also adjusted its ad-revenue policies regarding the use of profanity in the beginning of a video, giving creators more freedom to use profane language and monetize their content.